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Cloudflare Tunnel vs frp
Short answer: Pick Cloudflare Tunnel if you want outbound-only secure tunnels; pick frp if you want fast reverse proxy for NAT traversal. Cloudflare Tunnel has a free plan; frp is free and open source.
Cloudflare TunnelExpose local services securely without opening ports
frpFast reverse proxy to expose local serversWhich to pick
Pick Cloudflare Tunnel if you want…
- Outbound-only secure tunnels
Pick frp if you want…
- Fast reverse proxy for NAT traversal
- Lightweight local reverse proxy
- A free, open-source tool
Side by side
- What it is
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Cloudflare Tunnel securely connects local services to Cloudflare via outbound-only connections, eliminating the need for public ports.
- frp:frp is a fast reverse proxy that exposes local servers behind NAT or firewalls to the Internet.
- Best for
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Outbound-only secure tunnels
- frp:Fast reverse proxy for NAT traversal
- Who it’s for
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Developers and ops teams needing secure remote access to internal services.
- frp:Developers needing to expose local services (HTTP, TCP, UDP) publicly.
- Pricing
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Freemium
- frp:Open source
- Starting price
- Cloudflare Tunnel:—
- frp:Free
- Free plan or trial
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Free plan (Free)
- frp:Free to use
- Plans
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Free $0 · Pro $20 per month billed annually, or · Business $200 per month billed annually, or
- frp:—
- Open source
- Cloudflare Tunnel:—
- frp:Yes, 109,771 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Cloudflare Tunnel:Cloudflare dashboard
- frp:—
Cloudflare Tunnel features
- Outbound-only connections. cloudflared initiates outbound connections, allowing bidirectional traffic without opening inbound ports.
- Multi-protocol support. Can tunnel HTTP, SSH, remote desktop and other protocols through Cloudflare.
- Scalable connectors. Run multiple cloudflared processes within a single tunnel to handle traffic from any location.
- Firewall-friendly setup. Leverages default outbound firewall rules, letting you block all inbound traffic to the origin.
- Dashboard & API provisioning. Create and manage tunnels via the Cloudflare dashboard or programmatically through the API.
- Global network routing. Traffic is routed to the nearest Cloudflare data center for low latency and DDoS protection.
frp features
- Multi-protocol support. Handles TCP, UDP, HTTP and HTTPS traffic for inbound forwarding.
- P2P connect mode. Enables direct peer-to-peer connections without a central server.
- Server dashboard & client UI. Web interfaces for monitoring and managing proxies.
- Prometheus metrics. Exports proxy health and performance data for monitoring.
- Authentication options. Supports token, OIDC and basic HTTP authentication for clients.
- Encryption & compression. Secures traffic with TLS and reduces bandwidth usage.
Cloudflare Tunnel vs frp FAQ
What is the difference between Cloudflare Tunnel and frp?+
frp: Fast reverse proxy focused on local exposure, but lacks Cloudflare’s global network and security features.
Should I use Cloudflare Tunnel or frp?+
Pick Cloudflare Tunnel if you want outbound-only secure tunnels. Pick frp if you want fast reverse proxy for NAT traversal, lightweight local reverse proxy or a free, open-source tool.
Is Cloudflare Tunnel or frp free?+
Cloudflare Tunnel has a free plan and paid plans. frp is free and open source.
Is Cloudflare Tunnel or frp open source?+
frp is open source (fatedier/frp on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Cloudflare Tunnel.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.